LEONARDO LOST

Word slipped out last week about “The Leonardo Job,” so here I am playing catch up to my own movie.

No, don’t confuse it with “The Italian Job” or “The Brazilian Job” or any other job in the heist genre. This is a new original. What’s it about, then? Well, if there are 22 known DaVinci paintings in the world, this is a movie about stealing the 23rd. Which may well exist. It’s called “The Battle of Anghiari,” and even though it was ordered destroyed in the early 1500s by the Medicis when they swept back into Florence and back into power, some think that the man charged with its destruction – Giorgio Vasari — so revered Leonardo that he concocted an elaborate scheme to save the giant painting instead.

With that tantalizing possibility as a backdrop, I’ve conjured up a pair a modern-day thieves who, independently, decide “The Lost Leonardo” isn’t lost and concoct an elaborate scheme to go after it. Because hey, what better thing to steal than something of infinite value — yet something that no one really believes exists?

I expect to film in Florence and other venues in Italy. I expect my agents, lawyers, and half the film world to be there whether invited or not. That’s fine. It’s just the lure of la dolce vita.

Thanks to Alcon for stepping in and stepping up. Good guys over there. They’ll finance and shepherd it along. Warner Bros will distribute.